“Thought you might like this.”
Nico turns the thin plastic casing over in his hands. It catches the limited light from the one open window, refracting a burst of rainbow across the shadowy ceiling.
“What…is it?”
“Mixtape.” Will rocks back on his heels, hands swinging slightly at his sides. He hums idly, flicking his gaze across the room faster than Nico can track. Distracted. “Songs ‘n stuff.”
Contrary to popular belief, Nico knows what a mixtape is. CDs as well, for that matter. In fact he distinctly remembers when they came out — the transition from cassette to CD was a triumphant one. Way easier for him to save his game processes and transfer to new machines as they came. (He wonders, idly, what happened to his stack of CDs left at the Lotus. Are they still there, standing alone in his half of the room? Next to his dresser, across from Bianca’s coin and token collection? Is there enough dust in that standstill place to cover the entire living space in a thick blanket of forgotten memory?)
“I can see that, Solace. I meant — why.”
“Because!” Solace gestures grandly, hands fluttering in some particular way that means nothing, really; just accentuates his wide grin, his twinkling eyes. The rocking he’s constantly doing, back and forth, back and forth, the twitching of his fingers. Electrons on a wire. “It’s been a while since you’ve had a radio or anything, right? Figured you might have a couple years to catch up on. Might be fun.”
Nico turns the CD case over again in his hand, peripherally aware of the shifting rainbows, still, reflecting off Will’s hair now, dying it redgreengold. There’s sharpie scrawled across the surface, completely illegible except for the plethora of exclamation points, the doodle of a cat, and the chain of flowers drawn carefully around the edge.
Will is smiling so, so brightly.
“Thank you,” Nico says quietly. He clears his throat, looking away. “I’ll, um. I’ll listen to it. Tonight.”
“Great!” Will chirps. “I got lots more, I’ll stop by after my shift and you can tell me what you liked. That way you can have more input on karaoke night.”
“Oh, I’m not gonna —”
“See you tomorrow! Write down what you think!”
“— do that.”
Nico returns his parting wave helplessly, watching as he sprints down the stairs and then, for no discernible reason, cartwheels three times on his way across the common. Immediately upon righting himself he walks into a (thankfully unlit) brazier and goes sprawling, calling out, to no one, I’m okay! and bounding back off.
“How are you alive,” Nico mutters to himself. He turns back to the CD case, running his thumb across the edges. He notices, for the first time, the hearts that have been drawn along the clasps. A smile pushes its way across his face no matter how hard he tries to fight it back.
When he plays it that night, lying on his bed with his headphones tucked over his ears and his Walkman resting on his stomach, the first song is Walking on Sunshine.
He can’t fight back a smile then, either.
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✺ (1/22) ✺ @jegulus-microfic prompt: cry — 1130 words (jegulus dads ft. harry; getting in trouble at school - but he’s got a real good reason, your honor)
Regulus hangs up his phone with a huff, pushing up from his desk chair to head up the hall to the living room. “James?”
“Yes, my love?” James calls back. He turns from folding laundry into piles on the sofa and frowns when he clocks the tension in Regulus’ face. “What could I have possibly done?”
“It’s not you, it’s your son,” Regulus mutters.
“My son?” James’ brows shoot upward.
“He’s your son when he gets into trouble.”
“I resent that.”
“Resemble it, more like.” Regulus rolls his eyes. “I just got off the phone with Pandora. She got a call from Harry’s school about him being in principal McGonagall’s office because of an altercation with another student.”
James blinks. “They’re five, what does that even look like?”
“Well, we’ll be finding out shortly, because we have to go pick him up. Lily’s got their car and she’s at work.” Regulus shakes his head as he goes to retrieve his coat from the peg inside the front door.
“Hey, hang on.” James grabs him gently by the elbow to get him to look at him. “I’m sure it’s not a big deal.”
“He’s in the principal’s office at five years old, James.”
“That happened a time or a few when I was—” James cuts himself off when one dark eyebrow is arched at him pointedly. “Right, not helping my case. Look, it’s Harry. It’s probably just a big misunderstanding.”
James lifts both hands to grab Regulus by the jaw, towing him in to kiss his forehead a couple quick times. The corner of Regulus’ mouth ticks upward despite himself.
As it turns out, it’s not a misunderstanding.
Instead of looking guilty, Harry looks instantly defiant, arms crossed tight over his chest and chin tilted upward, when Regulus and James join him in the principal’s office.
“Have a seat.” Minerva McGonagall motions across her desk to the open chairs on either side of their son. “Harry, would you care to explain to your fathers why we’re here?”
Harry’s brow furrows as he lets out a huff. “I tackled someone in the sandbox.”
Regulus tilts his head. “Pardon?”
James cuts him a vaguely admonishing look before his focus returns to the child between them, expression softening. “What happened, mate?”
“He made Luna cry, daddy!” Harry whines. “He kept on pulling her hair and calling her Loony.”
Regulus whips toward McGonagall, glaring icily. “And where’s that boy?”
“He’s also been spoken to and picked up by his parents, mister Potter,” She tells him.
“That’s not all, either!” Harry interjects with a dramatic flail of his arms. “I went and told him he was being mean and to say sorry, but he said he was sorry to me ‘cause I have a weird family.”
“Alright, that’s not—” James’ mounting irritation gets cut off when McGonagall lifts a hand to halt him.
“Then he said his mum and dad are talking all the time about how papa’s gonna leave us all someday, and I got really mad so I tackled him and hit him.”
Oh.
Oh, that’s…
Regulus stares at Harry for a long moment, an unexpected pang in his chest. He didn’t know what to expect coming down to the school, hearing Harry’s story of what had occurred. He certainly had not assumed it had anything to do with him.
Harry is so like James, standing up for those he loves with everything he’s got. Even if it gets him into trouble.
Opening and closing his mouth twice, Regulus catches James’ eye. A small smile curls at his husband’s mouth, an odd cocktail of pride and sadness mixed in his hazel eyes. Regulus suddenly knows the feeling, complex as it is.
“I understand you were upset and looking out for your family, but you know you’re not supposed to hit people, mate,” James tells Harry.
“I know…” Harry mumbles, ducking his chin.
“If someone’s being mean, you tell a teacher, alright?”
“Yes, daddy…”
Regulus, lip pinched between his teeth, looks across the desk to find McGonagall’s eyes already on him. A strangely sympathetic look is offered to him from the older woman, but he ignores the twist it causes in his stomach.
Asks instead, “Is Luna alright?”
“I’ve spoken with her, as well, yes. Despite the issue, she said she’d like to finish her day as she usually does,” She confirms.
“Right, well, we’ll get this one home, then.” James claps his hands on his knees then pushes to stand. “So sorry, principal McGonagall.”
“Yeah, me too, sorry, principal McGonagall,” Harry mutters.
Harry shuffles off his chair to follow James on the way out of the office, Regulus grabbing his Spiderman backpack for him. He’s last to the door, which means the ‘mister Potter’ that’s called after them can only be for him. He turns with dark brows lifted, tries not to look too confused when McGonagall’s mouth twitches upward just barely.
“That’s quite the little boy you’ve got standing up for you, there,” She says.
Regulus glances back the other direction at where James and Harry are walking to the school’s main door hand in hand. His own small smile appears, throat tightening before he quietly clears it.
“Yeah, he’s really something,” He murmurs, turning back to the woman. “We’ll work on the hitting bit.”
“That’s good, yes,” She snorts, waving him off.
Regulus catches up to his family, falling into step on Harry’s other side. He makes it a point to ensure that he’s the one who helps Harry into the back of the car when they reach it. Keeps an eye on him pulling his seatbelt across himself on his booster while James settles in the driver’s seat, watching them in the rear view mirror.
Mind still reeling a bit with the turn of events, he can’t help but feel like he’s meant to say something.
“Harry, my darling, you—” Regulus twists his lips to the side as he runs a hand over Harry’s messy hair affectionately. “You know that I’m not really going anywhere, don’t you?”
“Of course, papa.” Harry nods surely. “I know you love us all too much.”
Regulus smiles faintly, nodding in return. “That’s my boy.”
He leans in to leave a kiss against the side of Harry’s head, double checks his seatbelt is secured appropriately, then closes the car door. When he drops into the passenger seat, he finds James looking over at him adoringly, a bright smile on his face. Wordlessly, he leans over the center console to press a lingering kiss to Regulus’ lips.
“Does this mean I can still have dessert after dinner tonight?” Harry asks from the back.
There’s a shared laugh between Regulus and James, two wide smiles pressed together now, before they finally separate to get on their way home.
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